UK bus service teams up with Barclays Pingit for mobile payments

It seems like just about everything is becoming more and more mobile these days; now throwing your shrapnel change at a bus driver could become a thing of the past with mobile ticket payments starting to take hold.

UK bus service First Bus have teamed up with popular money transfer application Barclays Pingit to make paying for your trip into town a whole lot easier.

The Pingit payment service launched on First Bus earlier this year in March, but it was only available in Worcester and Aberdeen.

It was quite successful with 7% of overall payments being made via the application and now First have said that they are anxious to expand the payment system throughout the country.

Managing director of First Bus, Giles Fearnley said: “The partnership with Pingit puts us at the forefront of bus ticketing technology and reflects our commitment to grasp ever more innovative ways to make bus travel better, easier and more convenient."

In order to use the mobile payments system commuters must first download the First Bus m-Tickets application that is free in both the Apple and Android app stores.

Once they have the app they can use the service in any of the specified areas in the UK and will be able to pay using either credit or debit cards or Barclays Pingit.

All they need to do when they board is simply show the driver their mobile phone screen to prove they have paid for their ticket.

Barclays Pingit has fast become the most popular money transfer application available for smartphones. It can be used by anyone from any bank and has been downloaded approximately 3.5 million times with £775 million worth of payments being made since its launch in 2012.

Alex Dodd

Alex is a third year sports journalism student at Staffordshire University. As well as his love for sport he has a huge passion for technology and always has his eye on the breaking news in the tech world.